Lake Madison, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Lake Madison, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Lake Madison lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Lake Madison — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake Madison — the short answer
Lake Madison, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 4b is Lake Madison's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Madison's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Madison
Each reading below is measured for Lake Madison itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLake Madison runs about 169 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLake Madison sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Lake Madison is in
Lake Madison sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lake Madison's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Lake Madison
Every plant below cleared Lake Madison's own zone 4b and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Madison?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Lake Madison
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Madison. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SODAKS MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- HILDE PIPE & GRAVEL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- MARR'S BEACH RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- SD DEPT OF TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- 105N51W 9BBBBNitrate · 3.8 mi
- DAKOTA ETHANOLToxics Release Inventory · 3.9 mi
- BIG SIOUX COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEMPFAS · 4.1 mi
- KIBBLE EQUIPMENT (JAMES RIVER EQUIPMENT)Brownfields · 4.1 mi
- 106N51W 9CABCNitrate · 4.3 mi
- 106N51W 9CABC2Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- GLOBAL POLYMER INDUSTRIES INCToxics Release Inventory · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Madison's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Lake Madison.
Total Sites
128
within ~10 miles of Lake Madison
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Madison
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Madison
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Madison, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lake Madison — Nitrate (48 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (8 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Lake Madison
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Madison average
Your land is one point inside Lake Madison
Everything above resolves to Lake Madison as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Lake Madison Average
Lake Madison Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Lake Madison
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Madison
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Madison's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Madison's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Madison
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Madison, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Madison averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Madison — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Madison average
How we know this about Lake Madison
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Lake Madison’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Lake Madison
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Madison?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Madison typically lands around Apr 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 14.
When is the first frost in Lake Madison?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Madison typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Madison?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Madison sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Sep 25, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Madison?
The federal record around Lake Madison is a meaningful one — 128 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (49), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lake Madison?
From about Sep 9 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake Madison's scale — its 4b band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Madison's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Lake Madison’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lake Madison's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,021 acres it covers and 128 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Madison's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lake Madison's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 9 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 128 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Madison, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Madison's boundary and the 3,021 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Madison's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Madison's 3,021 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake County
- The growing challenges every South Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Dakota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Madison's 3,021 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Madison you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,021 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Lake Madison-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across South DakotaLake Madison sits outside our named growing regions, so South Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides